The Story of a Teenage Girl
by Twitch Hopeless-Savage
Summary: Andromeda has been confined to the life of society for as long as she can remember. Just a long line a tea parties and fashion robes. But this summer everything has changed, she is free and with the people she loves most. Can she handle her new found free
1. Prologue

Prologue:

"You're what?" Callisto Black gasped, backing away from her daughter as if she were the plague.

Andromeda breathed in deeply, trying to keep her anger in check. _'Patience is a virtue,' _she reminded herself, taking a sip of tea as if the topic of conversation was a trivial matter that was always discussed over afternoon tea.

"Mother, I'm pregnant," she said slowly, enunciating her words. She took another sip of tea, just to keep things as normal as possible.

Mrs. Black sat in stunned silence, clutching her chest as if any second her heart would burst out.

Andromeda smiled behind her teacup at the prospect of her mother dying from a major heart attack. And if this little bit of good news didn't do it maybe the next bit would. One could only hope.

For several long seconds the women sat there in complete silence, except for the tinkle of silver against porcelain as Andromeda mixed a lump of sugar into her tea.

"Who is the father?" Mrs. Black asked, her breathing was hard and forced. Her face was grey and stricken.

'_Time for the icing on the cake,'_ Andromeda gleefully thought, as the father's name bunched up on the tip of her tongue. "Ted Tonks."

"Tonks?" Mrs. Black sat there for a second contemplating the name. "I don't believe I've met any Tonks'. Are they foreigners?" She picked up her cup of tea gracefully. It quivered slightly in her slender hands.

"No, they live right here in London," Andromeda stated, preparing to let loose the big one.

"They do? Then I must've met his mother at one point or another. Does she have a membership to the Witches Society?"

The Witches Society was where the well to do women of pureblood families went to socialise, trade anti-ageing spells, and discuss what's fashionable at that second in time.

Andromeda had been there on more than one occasion and found it the shallowest and dullest place on the face of the planet. Even a lecture from Professor Binns was more stimulating.

"No, I don't believe she would live up to the Society's rather high standards." Andromeda smiled as her mother's face fell.

"What do you mean by that?" Mrs. Black asked fearfully, sitting upright in her high back chair.

"Mother, I was knocked up by a mudblood!" Andromeda practically shouted, relishing the moment when her mother's face looked as if it had been hit with a cruciatus curse.

Her teacup fell from her dainty grip and smashed all over the carpet that had once belonged to a wizard Mr. Black had met while visiting the Middle East. It used to be a flying carpet. Now it just sat there, every once in awhile flailing its corners helplessly.

"SLAG!" Callisto Black screeched, anger filling her dead grey eyes. "SLUT! TRAITOR!" She stood up to her formidable height of 5'2", hand raised above her head.

SMACK! It slammed into Andromeda's face with the force of a charging erupment. Her skin began to sting as a red hand shape appeared on her usually white cheek.

"Get. The. Hell. Out. Of. My. House. You. Ungrateful. Wretch," Mrs. Black hissed, her voice murderous. She pointed a quivering finger at the front door.

'_So much for a heart attack.'_ Andromeda stood up quickly and glared at her mother. "You can't kick me out of this house. I've already moved out. My stuff is at Sirius'. If you want to contact me I'll be there." Spitefully she dropped her teacup onto the ground and marched out of the claustrophobically decorated parlour and into the large, marble tiled foyer.

Her older sister Narcissa was coming down the winding staircase dressed in a low cut shirt, a flowing skirt, and a powder blue robe.

"See you around Cissa," she said coldly, reaching for the door handle. The wall next to her head exploded. Bits of plaster and wood were flung into the young woman's face

Andromeda jumped, turning around. Her mother stood in the parlour doorway breathing heavily. She held her wand in her left hand.

"I don't want to ever see you around here again. As far as I'm concerned you are no longer a Black."

"You say that as if it is a bad thing," Andromeda remarked, ripping the door open. Rain pattered cheerfully on the sidewalk. The door slammed against her back propelling her onto the sidewalk. She threw out her hands in desperation. They scraped against the cement, bits of rock and dirt lodged into the wound.

A tear rolled down Andromeda's cheek. She was happy to be rid of her family. Let there be no doubt in that. But they were all she had ever known. Now the world seemed like a large cruel place.

Picking herself up Andromeda sighed and stared at the front of her home. "Good riddance." She spat on its front stoop.

She turned to the grey, desolate world ahead of her and stepped into the road. It was time to start her own life.

&


	2. Chapter One

Chapter One: Two months earlier

Andromeda's eye fluttered open as the train pulled into King's Cross. Her travelling companions silently pulled their baggage from the overhead bins and moved out into the crowded corridor, not even bothering to wish Andromeda a happy summer holiday.

Not that she really cared. They were all daughters of wizarding aristocrats and felt it was below them to participate in such mortal trivialities as common courtesy. Most likely they would spend their summer at the Witches Society sipping tea and talking about how wonderful they were as pure-bloods.

And it seemed that every year the guidelines for being pureblood were getting more and more strict. Andromeda supposed that if you had even a hint of non-magic blood in your veins they'd throw you to the doorstep like a pair of old shoes. Then again what did it really matter, who actually _wanted _to be there?

The only reason anyone went was to keep standards up and brag about how well off they were. Vampires, the whole lot of them. But instead of feeding off blood they fed off the opinions other people made about them. It was kind of twisted when you _really_ thought about it.

When the crowd in the corridor lessened Andromeda pulled down her own luggage and hauled it out onto the buzzing platform. The students and parents were a huge conglomerate of greetings and farewells.

Andromeda pushed her way through looking for a familiar face to latch onto to. As she scanned the crowd for any sign of her family her eyes settled on a Hufflepuff student a year older than her. He was standing with a large group of his friends and they were all hugging and promising to see each other and keep in touch now that they were out of school.

His hair was a light brown colour and stuck up slightly in the back. He wasn't the fittest person in the world but he wasn't bad looking.

As if feeling her gaze he looked up and they stared into each other's eyes. Andromeda felt the blush rise on her cheeks. Quickly she turned away and continued her search for her family in the mess of people.

She wasn't looking where she was going and the point of a hat jabbed her in the eye. Yelping, Andromeda shielded her eye from further attacks and almost ran into a dark figure leaning against the wall, away from the crowd.

"You'd better watch out where you're going, pip-squeak," barked the man gruffly.

"Maybe you should watch where you're going, dumb ass," Andromeda snapped back, before she had time to think it over.

The man began to laugh. He reached up to his hood and pulled it down. Sirius stood there laughing gaily, his arms wide open.

Andromeda ran into them, screeching with happiness. She hadn't seen Sirius for almost a year. Ever since Aunt Ursula disowned him from the family Andromeda had been forbidden from seeing him.

"Mother doesn't know you're here, does she?" Andromeda asked, resting her head happily on her cousin's bony shoulder. The sounds of the crowded station disappeared into the background.

"No, I'm here to kid-nap you," he laughed, pulling away. "James was supposed to come along but he had some other… matters to attend to. But he should be at my flat when we get there. But shhh… it's supposed to be a surprise." His grin was wide and all encompassing. People walking passed couldn't help but sneak a peak at it.

"I'll try and look surprised. How's this?" Andromeda opened her eyes wide and made her mouth into an "O", trying hard not to laugh.

Sirius gave her the thumbs up, grabbing her trolley. "Let's blow this popsicle stand," he suggested. "Before your ride arrives. Wouldn't want Auntie Callisto getting all _snuggily_."

"That's for sure," Andromeda agreed, looking back for one last glimpse at the Hufflepuff boy. His group had dissipated and there was no sign of him in the thinning crowd. Sighing, Andromeda followed Sirius though the wall and into the muggle infested station.

As they slipped out the entrance a limousine pulled up to the curb and Lady Black got out telling the driver to wait. She was dressed in a plain black trenchcoat and wearing unbearably high heels.

Sirius discreetly secured Andromeda's trunk to the back of his motorcycle with magic and then handed her a helmet. "Throw it on quickly, it has a cloaking spell on it." His threw his on just as Lady Black marched passed them, not even glancing in their direction. The helmet melted over Andromeda's head, so it was like she wasn't even wearing one. When she checked herself out in the mirror her hair had turned blonde and her nose was a lot smaller. Sirius now looked like a male model, with sultry eyes and long perfect hair.

Sirius and Andromeda laughed to themselves as they mounted Sirius motorcycle and tore off down the street. She wished she could be there to see the look on her mother's face when she didn't turn up at the station.

They sped through the bustling London streets Andromeda's long blonde hair streaming freely behind her. Sirius was an absolute maniac on his bike. Slipping through tiny crevices, stopping with only a second to spare, Andromeda had to hold onto his waist for dear life.

And he just laughed loudly, shaking his mane of now sandy brown hair in her face. Some of it got caught in her mouth so she turned her head to the side and watched the people they passed.

Even though they were speeding Andromeda was still able to take in details of everyone. A young woman was comforting a crying child. Two men were leaning against a brick wall taking a cigarette break beneath a "No Smoking" sign while a shopkeeper closed her store for lunch.

Andromeda smiled, happy to be back in London away from the stuffy confines of Hogwarts. She breathed in the fresh smell of smog and knew she was home.

&

Sirius screeched to a halt in front of an ancient brick building ascending several stories up into the misty haze. It wasn't Black Manor but it meshed well with Sirius' ragged, care-free attitude.

Andromeda felt around her head until her fingers hooked on the edge of the helmet. She pulled it off and hung it on the handlebar.

"It isn't much but I like to call it home, sometimes," Sirius said, pulling off his own helmet. His hair went back to black and his face became scruffy and unkempt. He pulled out his wand and unattached her trunk off the back. With perfect ease he threw it onto his shoulder, acting like a cheesy strong man from the muggle circuses he had always taken Andromeda to when they were younger.

"Try doing that without magic," Andromeda laughed, following Sirius up the front steps. At the door Sirius punched a few keys on a number pad and the door unlocked.

"The neighbourhood can get rather hostile at night. I made the mistake of taking a walk in the dark when I first moved in. I was ambushed by several guys who demanded that I hand over all of my money. What they didn't realise was that I had been taking martial arts at the local rec centre. It didn't take long for them figure it out either."

The cousins laughed, mounting a flight of wooden stairs that squeaked horribly beneath their weight. "So what are you doing with your new found freedom besides martial arts? Have you acquired a job yet?" Andromeda winced at her own words realising that she sounded like one of the Society Witches. Always using proper language as to not lead anyone to believe that you are uneducated. Rule # 768 of Proper Society Conduct, as taught by Aunt Ursula.

"You sound like my mother," Sirius joked, stating the obvious. "And to answer your question I have not acquired employment as of this exact moment but I am volunteering at the recreational centre. Luckily mother never terminated my allowance so I can afford to live in such fine accommodations. Of course the help here is rather incompetent and there is not another pure-blood for miles."

"Somehow I feel as if I'm being mocked," Andromeda said. Sirius grinned at her slyly and shifted the trunk on his shoulder.

"You're not the only one that can talk fancy. Remember I had to grow up with Ursula." A shadow of anger flicked quickly across the surface of Sirius' grey eyes. "I suppose she'll be here in a couple of hours to find you."

Andromeda stopped in alarm, looking sharply at Sirius. "They know where you live? They told me they hadn't the foggiest where you were, in fact they said you could be dead for all they know." Andromeda knew she shouldn't be shocked but it still hurt to think that her family was so… so wrapped up in themselves that they had to disown anyone that could possibly disgrace them.

"And that surprises you? I thought you had our mothers pegged better than that little cousin."

"Let me be, Sirius Black," Andromeda snapped defensively, her pride thoroughly wounded. She couldn't stand when people questioned her intelligence.

"Don't get all mopey. It'll ruin the party." Sirius stopped in front of room number 613 and turned the doorknob. "Welcome to my home."

&


	3. Chapter Two

Chapter Two:

"Little one!" James Potter shouted, pulling Andromeda into a crushing hug. "It's been awhile."

"Not long enough," Andromeda coughed, pulling out of his overbearing grip. People around the room laughed good-heartedly. She stood in the doorway taking in her surroundings. The room wasn't in the best of shape, with obvious signs of magical repair in places. But still it was rather cosy. A warm fire hung in mid-air crackling pleasantly.

On an old green sofa sat Remus Lupin and Lily Evans. They both looked exhausted, but managed to keep a smile on their faces. Snuggled into a bean bag chair in the corner was Peter Pettigrew. His nose twitched nervously when she looked at him. Behind them hanging on the wall between to grimy windows was a large mirror. Smoke twirled about it's surface and Andromeda could see the faint outlines of people walking around.

Sirius pushed in behind her and set her trunk against the wall. He looked at Andromeda for her response. "Well, I've seen worse places," she said in a haughty voice, turning her nose up. "Though not many."

"You haven't seen the best part," Sirius stated, pushing on the adjacent wall to the entrance. The plaster and wallpaper disintegrated and before them stood a plain wooden door. Andromeda pushed it open and walked into a small room. Sirius followed her in, flicking the light on. The light hummed quietly casting the room in a yellowish tint. In the corner sat a bed with an old iron frame. A quilt covered the top of it. It had the pentagram on it.

"You can hide in here when mother comes to get you," Sirius said. "And just a warning the couple above us just got married. Their bedroom is directly above yours so if you hear any… noises, don't be frightened."

Andromeda laughed, wrapping her arms around Sirius. "Thank-you," she whispered, kissing his stubble covered cheek.

"Hey, are you two going to stand around all day or are we going to have a party?" James yelled from the old green sofa, snuggling up to Lily.

Sirius turned off the light and closed the door behind them. It quickly camouflaged itself as the wall again.

"I suppose you'd like to wash up," Sirius said walking into the small kitchen, he stared out over the counter to the living room where his guests sat. His finger pointed to a hallway behind the green couch. "The bathroom is directly at the end."

"Thanks." Andromeda folded her travelling cloak and hung it on the back of an unoccupied leather chair. She headed down the small hallway, smiling pictures lined the yellow, damaged walls.

"Any news from Dumbledore?" James asked Sirius in a low voice. "We haven't heard anything since we got back from our honeymoon." The atmosphere of the room instantly became tense and serious. Everyone leaned forward.

Sirius looked down at the bathroom. The door was closed and light spilled out from beneath it. He leaned over the bar, his voice lowering to a dull whisper. "Voldermort has someone inside the Order. Dumbledore thinks they were responsible for the Prewetts death."

Peter twitched involuntarily at the mention of the Dark Lord's name. His small beady eyes darted around the room nervously.

James and Lily shared worried glances. "Do you have any clue as to who it is?" Lily asked, grabbing hold of James' hand. Sirius stared at them sadly, the dark emptiness of his grey eyes telling them everything. Lily's green eyes filled with despair.

"If I ever catch the little rat I'll skewer him on his own wand and roast him above Voldermort's burning corpse," James growled, his hand tightening around Lily's.

Peter squeaked and toppled off his bean bag seat. He rolled across the room banging his head on the coffee table. Everyone sniggered into their hands.

Remus sat there in silence staring at Sirius as his friend started to pull out bags of chips from the cupboards. He tossed them onto the counter and pulled open the refrigerator. Remus got up and walked into the kitchen, his hand softly touching Sirius' side.

Sirius looked over at him sadly, tears rolled down his cheeks. "I know I should tell them but they're so happy. I'd hate myself forever if something happened to them yet I still can't bring myself to ruin the one good thing that's happened in a while," he whispered, pouring some salsa into a small bowl.

"Would you prefer if I told them later tonight after the party?" Remus muttered, leaning lightly on Sirius. "They have to know Voldermort is after them. They need to be prepared."

"No, I'll tell them." He looked up as the bathroom door opened. "Andromeda come help your old cousin with the food." He plastered a smile onto his grim face.

Andromeda laughed, picking up a couple bowls of various dips. Sirius followed her into the living with the chips. Remus stared at his back before grabbing the drinks.

&

"How is everything at good ol' Hogwarts?" Lily asked tossing a chips into her mouth.

Andromeda swallowed what was in her mouth, washing it down with some coke. "Eh… okay, I guess. Though it's not nearly as fun now that you guys are gone."

"Has anyone even tried to take James and Sirius place as top trouble makers?" Remus asked, grinning at his two friends.

Andromeda laughed. "A few have but none of them have a knack for getting out of trouble only getting into it. One guy attempted to disrupt the O.W.L.s by letting a swarm of billywiggs loose in the Great Hall. You should've seen McGonnagall, I swear she was very tempted to let Filch have his way with the boy. She even told him to make sure his chains were ready."

"Bloody git," James sniggered. "If he was going to disrupt something that big he should've at least done it in a way that wouldn't get caught."

"Oh he wanted to get caught," Andromeda stated, dipping a corn chip into the salsa. "He wanted everyone to know his name. He was so hung up on that that he told everyone he could what he was planning to do."

Sirius shook his head sadly. "We should take a trip over to Hogwarts and show all these idiots how to pull off a good trick," he told James. To the right of his head the fire crackled pleasantly, casting a reddish glow on his face that made him look all the more devilish.

"Yes, you both could both set a fine example of how immature trouble makers turn out," Lily stated caressing James face. "_And_ everyone can see what cute little boys you are." Her lips touched his smooth cheek.

Sirius looked over at Remus raising his eyebrows, a huge grin was plastered on his face. Remus blushed and got up off the couch and sat down onto Sirius' lap. "You're cute too," he muttered. He leaned back against Sirius chest, resting his head on his shoulders.

Andromeda leaned over and hit her cousin's arm. "Will you all keep the P.D.A level down. I'm still an impressionable little girl." She smiled sweetly as Sirius' eyebrow raised in question.

"Come on little one," James said, smiling. "You're telling us that you are innocent and sweet. If I remember correctly you kissed me."

Andromeda looked shocked. "And if _my _memory serves me correctly you also kissed me." And it had been heavenly, Andromeda could still feel the heat creeping up her face.

Lily rolled her eyes. "And if all of us think back we see that you two were always flirting and skirting around each other. Even if it was in the most innocent of ways. Nothing ever came of those kisses so let us forget they ever even happened."

"You're just jealous that you wanted me and I kissed another girl," James smirked, a wide grin on his face. "Don't fret you're the only girl for me." His kissed her on the lips;

"And what about you, Andromeda? Have you found yourself a beau?" Remus asked, twisting his fingers unconsciously around Sirius' long black hair.

Andromeda blushed, feeling the eyes of the boy from the train station boring into her head. The way his hair cutely stuck up in back. To hide her embarrassment she shook her head rapidly. "I haven't been on a date since mother set me up with Lucius Malfoy's horrible little brother. He spent the whole time talking about some guy called Tom Riddle, I suppose that must be his secret boyfriend."

Everyone in the room tensed at the name, Tom Riddle. Remus sat up in Sirius lap and stared hard at Andromeda. "What exactly did he say about Tom Riddle?"

Andromeda looked around uncomfortably at the faces of her companions closing tightly around her, looks of fear and apprehension on their faces. "Just that he had held a party a week before and that it was rather extraordinary. He kept saying that Tom was great and awesome and that one day he would change the world. He invited me to the next party but I declined."

"Is that all he said?" James asked looking deeply into Andromeda's eyes.

"Yes, I'm sure. Why? What does Tom Riddle have to do with anything?"

Everyone looked at each other, Sirius was about to say something when his eyes widened, staring at the wall behind Andromeda. She turned and the ugly, palling, wrinkled face of her aunt stared down at her from the frame of the foggy mirror.

Sirius tossed Remus off and catapulted out of his chair grabbing Andromeda's arm. He wouldn't let them take her, not with their growing involvement with Voldermort. It was like sending her into a pit of poisonous snakes.

He pushed his hand against the invisible door and as it appeared he thrust it open. Andromeda scurried in, Sirius pushed her trunk in after her. "Don't make a noise," he warned, slamming the door shut.

Andromeda fumbled around in the dark until she found the light switch. The small room was bathed in a pale, yellowish light. A loud banging noise above made her jump, Sirius hadn't been kidding when he said noises.. She stared up at the shaking ceiling. Dust fell down into her black hair.

Trying to ignore the noise she pressed her ear against the door. The sound of the front door squeaking open caused her breath to slow. She heard the loud, powerful step of her dear Aunt entering the apartment.

"Where is she?" Mistress Black demanded. Andromeda pulled away at the sound of her loud, grating voice.

&


	4. Chapter Three

Chapter Three:

"Where is the girl? I know you have her Sirius." It was the voice of a woman used to everything going her way. And this time would be no different. "Quickly, I haven't all day to put up with your childish nonsense. I'm lunching with the Minister's wife in an hour."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Sirius said, keeping his face perfectly calm, a trick he had learned from the formidable woman standing before him. "Why do you think I would have that pesky little brat with me?"

Lily and James shared a look of discomfort. Remus was trying to calm Peter down because he was shivering with fear. He had met the woman once and it haunted his nightmares for years to come.

Ursula Black began laughing; a decadent, smoky laugh that made everyone in the room, but Sirius, flinch. "Really, Sirius? Pesky little brat? You adore the girl. Don't try and fool me, I'm your mother. Now tell me when she is and this will all end." Her gaze landed on the mirror behind the wall. She admired her ghastly face in it, chuckling with amusement. "So I'm an enemy, am I?"

"Yes, you are," Sirius said tersely. "And you're not my mother. You're just the women who fucked a man and got pregnant. I was just the free gift with the experience. That's where your involvement in my life ends. Now why don't you get out of here or I'll be forced to call the police. You are trespassing on my property."

Again the woman laughed. "Really, Sirius. What makes you think that your petty insults and threats would shake me up?" Her eyes began to rove across the floor, looking for something out of the ordinary. "I've dealt with these… police before. Weak, just like all muggles. Now what do we have here?" She bent over and began to examine the area of floor around the invisible door. Sirius' face became rigid, his eyes darting over to James and Lily.

"Very clever, my son. But not clever enough. You were always a disappointment to me and your father. You and your brother both. At least he's loyal to me, even if he is dumber than a flobberworm." Her long, bejewelled fingers caressed the worn floor right in front of Andromeda's door. They slid across the floor and then up the door. The camouflage began to melt away.

"Leave her alone," Sirius snapped, trying to put himself between the door and his mother. He was too slow and his mother pushed the door open. Andromeda was huddled in a corner behind the bed, trying to make herself as small as possible. Ursula pulled out her wand and pointed it at the bed. It disintegrated on the spot.

"Stupefy!" Sirius shouted, pointing his own wand at the small of his mother's back. She twisted around quickly and with an agility surprising for a woman of her age flipped into the air and landed behind Sirius, shooting a spell into his back. Sirius froze in place, only his eyes moving around fearfully.

Lily, James, and Remus rose out of their seats wands at the ready. Ursula laughed and threw up a barrier between her and them.

"I should have you all arrested. Kid-napping and attacking an old woman. You should be ashamed of yourselves. Silly little mudblood," she laughed as Lily tried break through the invisible wall. "You'll never be able to break through it. Not even a pure-blood could break it." While Lily attacked the spell with a new fervour, Mistress Black walked back into the room.

Andromeda stood there, her wand pointing at her Aunt's chest.

"Oh please, if you use magic you'll be expelled from Hogwarts, I can assure you of that. Now come along, your mother is livid. She about ready to tear apart London. And you wouldn't all those deaths on your hands, now would you?"

"Why does she care? She knows I hate her guts and has let me know on more than one occasion that the feeling is mutual." Andromeda kept her wand raised, she didn't care if she was expelled. At least it was better than having to go back home.

"But she does care. She doesn't want your chances at a good future thrown away like this. Sirius and his friends are nothing in Society, they aren't going anywhere. Is that what you want?" Ursula voice had become calm and motherly, but Andromeda could still detect a tinge of malice.

Andromeda knew exactly what to say, she had all the words on the tip of her tongue. The only problem was she put too much thought on the perfect words and gave Ursula the upper hand.

"Expelliarmus," her aunt screamed.

The spell hit Andromeda squarely in the chest, sending her flying across the room. Her wand flew from her grip and landed at Ursula's feet as Andromeda slammed into the wall and crumpled to the floor, the bones in her left leg cracking loudly.

"Ooh, that sounded like it hurt."

Ursula strode across the small room and stood over Andromeda, smiling triumphantly. "Now let's go home."

"No," Andromeda moaned, cringing as she tried to move her broken leg. "I'm not going anywhere."

And before Ursula could do anything Andromeda slammed her right foot into her knee-cap, sending the woman to the floor crying in pain. "You will pay for that you little brat," Ursula hissed, backhanding Andromeda across the face.

Her talon like nails left four deep slash marks on Andromeda's face, blood already beginning to roll toward her chin. She stared at her Aunt in utter disgust, tears of pain mixed with blood. "Bitch…" Andromeda meekly said, trying not to flinch as Ursula got to her feet. She winced in pain only briefly, as she placed her weight back onto her legs.

"I have a high tolerance for pain, little girl. You will have to do a lot more than that to bring me down," she reached down and wrapped her heavily bejewelled fingers into Andromeda's hair and began to drag her across the floor. "I will not allow you to make a fool our family." She let Andromeda's head to slam into the door frame as she pulled her out of the room. "We've already lost some face for Sirius' behaviour, I won't loose more for you."

Andromeda began screaming at the top of her lungs. She cast a look of desperation over at Lily who was trying everything to break through the barrier. She froze when she saw Andromeda being dragged out of the apartment by her hair.

Lily studied the barrier for a split second before abandoning her efforts and turning to the barred windows.

"Get those bars off," she told James, pulling off her sweater. "It's time for a little sky diving."

As her husband blasted out the bars she turned to Remus. "You up for a little transfiguration?" He nodded. "Good." She grabbed a blanket off the back of the couch and spread it across her back, holding out the ends with her hands. It looked like wings. "Can you make it into a set of wings, like you did last time?"

Remus look unsure for a second, but Andromeda's screams seemed to concrete his resolution to move ahead with the spell. He flourished his wand, muttering things under his breath. And slowly the blanket began to transform into a set of white wings, stretched out magnificently. When the transformation was finished Lily moved closer to him so her could attach the wings to her back. As her flesh melded with the wings they began to twitch a little bit.

"You look like an angel," James sighed, petting the soft, pale feathers. "Go and save Little One. And be safe, Ursula has more power than you would think, and she doesn't mind hurting people." He kissed the side of Lily's face.

She smiled at him. "Don't worry. I'll be fine, this is nothing. Beautiful wings Remus." Her green eyes wandered admiringly over them.

"No prob, now get out of here. Andromeda needs your help." Remus winced as Andromeda's screams reached all new levels of intensity.

"Try and break through while I am gone." Lily backed up to the barrier and ran towards the open window. She dove through, her wings enveloping her small body. Wind rushed fiercely through her hair, causing it to whip around in every such direction.

The floors of the building passed quickly, and the ground moved closer and closer. Right before she would have smashed into it she unfurled her wings and her rapid descent was stalled. She lowered herself gracefully in front of the doors and looked around. Ursula's limousine was still idled in the street, so that meant she was still trudging down the eight floors, with Andromeda trailing behind her. Wrapping her wings back around her body she dashed up the steps and swung the doors open quickly.

The lobby was silent, Lily couldn't hear a single scream for help. Ursula must have silenced Andromeda. At the second Lily began to run up the stairs to meet them and catch Mistress Black of guard a blast of hot air caught her in the chest and sent her flying backwards. An ear-splitting screech followed and Ursula came into sight, tumbling dangerously down the stairs, her arms flailing for help.


End file.
